Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory Long Beach VA and University of California, Irvine

Director: Thay Q. Lee, Ph.D.

Dr. Lee established the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory in 1989 with support from William C. Kim, MD, Sanford H. Anzel, MD and M. Mark Hoffer, MD. The laboratory is located at the VA Healthcare System in Long Beach, California and covers over 2,000 square feet of laboratory space including the shoulder, knee, and joint laboratories and a fully equipped machine shop.

The research performed at the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory focuses on orthopaedic injury mechanisms and surgical repairs primarily of the shoulder, elbow, knee and spine. The four labs include several custom testing systems for shoulder, knee, elbow and spine research as well as three material testing frames. The labs are also equipped with multiple motion analysis devices including a Microscribe 3DLX (Immersion Corp, San Jose, CA), Polhemus FASTRAK (Polhemus, Colchester, VT), Optotrak (Northern Digital Inc, Ontario, Canada), and WINAna- lyze (Mikromak Service, Berlin, Germany) motion analysis software and also a Tekscan pressure measurement system (Tekscan Inc, South Boston, MA) for measuring joint contact area and pressure.